United Kingdom Views from a Southern Yankee Girl

I am more than stoked going back to England this summer. At first I was not sure it would happen with my budget on the low side and then if I went it would only be for a week or so. I advertised on Rick Steves travel graffiti site, looking for a travel buddy. I have had 5 responses. 1 from Doctor who site and the I Love UK facebook. Everyone of the people sound great. I really clicked with a woman who is close to my age and have kind of the same life experiences. She is coming for a visit this week so we can plan the trip. Last year was fun on my own but it will be so much more with someone to travel with. Oh and she is a foodie, so we shall eat our way across the UK LOL!

I watched the final episode on Saturday Jan 2nd. Thanks to BBCA for airing is so quickly. Yep it was a tear jerker at the end. So sorry to see David Tennant leave as the Doctor but the kid Matt Smith will do great I am sure of it with Moffatt doing the writing. It should be fantastic.

Robin is gone in so many ways. The finale was Saturday night. I tried not to cry but did anyway. Gisborne is gone, Isabella and the nasty sheriff are gone, Alan is gone and now Robi too. the only one left is the Brother; Archer. I could see them doing a whole new show with him. He is not hard to look at!  Poor Munch I wish they would have let him have a romance with Kate. It didn’t make sense, she and Robin were and item and all he could think about was Marion when he lay dying. But all and all a decent season. I felt like they must have switched writers from one season to the next. Oh yeah and having Robin holding a white lily was so odd. It did not fit the show at all, it should have been a bunch of wild flowers that would have been more fitting to the man who lived in the forest. It did make me laugh the bit with the lily. so RIP Robin Hood

The last few episodes have been very different with the addition of Isabella. Now things are getting good. I was really tired of the whole Sheriff, Guy Vs. Robin and the boys every week, so it is nice to see a strong woman on the scene. She is turning out to be as nasty as the old Sheriff, but not quite. She wanted Robin to cuddle now she only wants him dead. That would have made an interesting pair, like fire and water. She was going to behead her own Brother Guy and the girl who tried to help him. Almost got them but Robin shot an arrow at the hatchet and it was deflected. Once again the writers give us a little insight into a softer side of Guy as another girl dies in his arms.

I was really disappointed that Kate and Robin had to kiss. He always gets the girl, but this time it was Munch who wanted the girl. Not sure how they play that one out.

A man in a robe captures Robin and Guy and makes them listen to a story. Egads Robin and Guy have a brother…and its up to them to rescue him. Now that is a neat little plot twist. Loved it!

This week’s episode was good, it held my attention. Guy and Robin’s brother, nice looking and a way with the ladies as well. A bit of both of them it seems

We know the old Sheriff will be back, so how does all that tie in with Guy and Robin, this is the last season, I hope they all go out with a huge finale.

check out the posts about the show on

I had to watch episode 4 again. Opening scene; a dark mysterious woman is seen running and hiding pouches of what may be coins in a tree trunk. She is being chased by 2 men, she is caught and Robin comes to her aide.

I see this could be a potential love connection for Robin. The dark woman is Isabella( Lara Pulver). She has a very successful career on stage and in musical theater. Robin rescues the damsel in distress. Adding a nice little twist; she is Gisborne’s sister. And we are off! Gisborne says Robin has to die for sure this time and he will make sure of it once and for all. Isabella does not recognize Guy. Her story is that Guy sold her to into a horrible marriage at 13. Isabella shows supior skill with fighting swords and all. Also she has a mean kick.

Prince John emerges as a wicked, dastardly fellow. The part is played brilliantly by Toby Stephens. He captures the petulant and true ruthlessness of Prince John. The real life story of John and Isabella is woven very nicely into the plot.

There is more fighting, the gang is cornered by Gisborne who will have them all killed and unleashes his newest weapon against Robin and the Gang…the door is raised and out comes a lion. yep a lion roaring and heads for the gang as he has not had a meal in days. Conveniently enough Isabella has some bags of magic powder that Robin and Tuck break in mid air,which fills the air with smoke as the gang escapes once more.

There is more running etc. as there is in every episode. What makes this a little different, Isabella seems to be a good match for Robin, not only romantically but in intelligence and cunning as well.

The Price tells Gisborne and the Sheriff  that they have to kill each other. They have a” knuckle bitter” of a fight on the torrents of the castle and Gisborne stabs the sheriff and it looks as if he is dead.. until the last scene when the body of the sheriff is carted out of the castle and you see his fingers move. We know that he is coming back.

Isabella plays to Price John’s weakness; his vanity. She learns how nasty he is when he burns down the church in Loxley where a wedding is being held. She stays behind to help put out the fire and begins to firm up her relationship with Robin and the gang.

She also pledges her alligeance to Guy only if he will protect her and not make her go back to her husband. Robin and the gang are not sure if they can trust her.

All this sets us up for the upcoming conflict between Robin and Gisborne and the Prince.

Now that the nasty sheriff is “dead”, Gisborne is wrangling to be the next sheriff of Nottingham and the Prince is using that as a hold over him to make sure he kills Robin. Isabella and Robin are chained together and they have to work together to find a way to get out of the chains. He still does not trust her.

Weston from St. Nicks

I have been working hard and planning my next visit. It has only been 4 months since I was there and I cant stop thinking about going back I miss Yorkshire pudding, jelly babies, and clotted cream the most. I am working very hard to establish an internet jewelry site and blogs in order to make extra money so I can stay longer. I am also trying to find someone to rent my house for the summer so I can spend the whole summer in the West Country.  Well I will stay in the West but travel around to Wales, Up North and London of course. I absolutely fell in  love with the West Country. I think after I retire I may have to move there. This is not much of a post I am working on the review for Robin Hood’s last 3 episodes…coming soon cheers all!

Let’s see, we have a new character Kate(Joanne Froggatt). We would know her in the States from Life on Mars( as Ruth Tyler) and MI5(Spooks) but she has been in The Bill, Coronation Street and many many more shows in the UK. In Robin Hood she plays a young girl/woman, she looks really good for a woman who will be 30 this year. Before I read her bio I assumed she was 19 maybe 20 years old.

I am not so sure about Kate, she is very much like Marion(LucyGriffiths). Hot tempered, determined, focused and more than a little reckless. Do we see a love connection with Robin? Munch is taken with her from the first scene. There has to be some kind of love interest and tension. How could Robin forget Marion so quickly? In the last scene of the first episode we see Robin bury the ring that he gave Marion. I wonder if this is setting us up for the possibility of a new love?

Our band of men are captured and sold to the Irish King, Kate tried to save her younger brother who was conscripted as well but sadly he did not make it to the next episode, which gives Kate motivation to help Robin and the gang. Is anyone surprised that she joins the gang in the end? As I mentioned before I am not so sure about Kate. I think maybe they cast a young nice looking blond to catch the viewers eye. I read in the BBCA forum that the part was supposed to be played by a much younger girl.

I will watch the episode again as the BBCA has a Robin Hood marathon coming up and I will do a long post on episode 2 and 3.

BBCA has a live chat during the show on Saturday’s check it out:  http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/195/index.jsp

cheers all

L

Bouncing Around Bath or my day in Bath 2009

I have been back in the States almost 4 months and sometimes it only seems like minutes since I left England. One of the best parts of my trip was roaming around Bath. Bath was a must see destination on my trip. I was able to see Bath through my eyes and those of my friend who is English.

As we jumped off the bus from the park and ride, I felt this shiver run up my spine. It was the realization that I had really arrived in Bath, not only that but my dreams had been realized by actually taking a trip to England.   We consulted the tourist map, normally I would play it cool and not look like a tourist but I did not care about how it looked I was a total tourist, camera around my neck and all. It was  an unusually sunny day almost 75 degrees with a brilliant blue cloudless sky. We hiked up Gay street to the Jane Austen museum. see post on tea with Jane Austen) I wont go into the hours that we stayed in the museum drinking tea and taking the tours.

Our Waitress at the Tea Room

Blinking we stepped into the bright sunlight and took a right turn from the Jane Austen house to the original home where Jane Austen lived, Number 3 Gay street, it is now a legal office. I had to take a picture of the door, it may have been totally tourist but I was on vacation. As we approached the house at number 3 a woman about 60, wearing sensible shoes and stretch jeans almost shouted out to the man coming out of the office at number 3. She asked in a sharp toned Michigan accent “hey where is number 3 Gay street”? The man rolled his eyes and pointed to the number 3 above the door. I was a little embarrassed to be American, well maybe not embarrassed  but I could see how she looked to the British;  Loud, abrasive and…. well enough about that.  We chatted with her for a few minutes and I offered to take a picture of her as she was alone and one must have at least one picture of yourself at a famous landmark. She handed off her very expensive camera to me and crossed the street,  I was standing 30 feet away and I could have run off with her camera, she must have trusted me as an American. While taking the picture a tour bus passed in between us and I lost sight of her, she may have panicked a little when she could not see me or her camera. I took the photo and we moved away not wanting to share our lovely day in Bath with her.

The historical Jane Austen house

The next stop was the Royal Crescent. It was almost erie to see all the homes in a semi circle, it was breathtaking  with the sun reflecting off the Bath stone. I had to take 4 pictures to get it all in. I stood in the spot where many scenes from, Jane Austen movies were filmed right here.

Alley behind Crescent

We walked behind the Crescent to the alley path. The Austen historian  said Jane walked this very path to get away from all the noise of the city as she loved the country much more . There is a huge tree that must have been hundreds of years old. To think that she may have paused there. It was almost like a page from her books.

Jane Austen movies

Film site Crescent

The other side of Crescent

Next the Abby and Roman Baths which is another attraction and is much much older than the Jane Austen time line.

Bristol Station

Trains stations have fascinated me all my life. When I was very small we lived across from the largest rail yard in the world. Russel, Kentucky. I was lulled to sleep by the sound of the trains. To this day the sound of a train whistle is a comforting sound.

from Wikipedia

Transportation

The area also has a large railroad classification yard, built by theChesapeake & Ohio Railroad and now operated by CSX. The C&O Rail Yard was formerly the largest individually owned rail yard in the world.

Before traveling to England I checked out Rick Steves  travel site and found some good information on  how to take a train. However, most of the information is about rail passes. I was a little intimidated looking at the train schedules.  Once I rode the first train it was really easy.  Here is advice on how to catch a train.

You can purchase tickets on line(the easiest), or buy one at the  rail station, some stations have ticket machines. If  you are catching the train from a small town and there is no ticket agent, board the train and the agent will come around and collect your money. If you are not sure about transfers or changing trains.  Ask the agents  they are very helpful and take great care to explain exactly what you need to do. If you buy a ticket on the train be sure to ask for a return unless you are not returning the same place. Be sure to have a map handy. It is important to make sure you are boarding the train in the right direction. It may sound like common sense but not to everyone. Also your mobile phone GPS may not work in parts of the UK.

Many of the trains going to Cardiff have to change depending what city you are traveling from.  Bristol is a major stop.

If you go to Wales from the West you will travel under the River Severn. Really kind of neat to go under the river.

If you are taking  a short day trip there is no need to pay for first class and some trains do not offer first class anyway. If you travel during the slow  times during the day or off season ,  avoid the weekends you should be able to get a good seat at the regular fare.

Depot In Bradford

Bristol Station

Bristol and Wales Union

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weston-super-Mare_railway_station

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/default.aspx

http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/rail_menu.htm

It was in Camden, NJ that a lone Harley rider slowly wound his way up to the cemetery gate. The roar of the engine and the crunch of the gravel on the path was startling in the silence that surrounded the graveyard. I watched as the scene unfolded.

The rider stepped off the bike, removed his helmet, and revealed a Union Jack bandanna tied around his cascading, sandy blond curls. He removed his leather jacket as he pushed up his sunglasses and blinked into the late afternoon sun. He leaned over and pulled a worn, dog-eared book from the Harley saddle bags. He didn’t glance around him, but headed up the path to the tomb of Walt Whitman. His steps echoed those of perhaps a beat poet on a pilgrimage.

Walt Whitman's Grave Camden NJ

After solemnly visiting the tomb of the great poet, the Harley rider stretched himself out on the steps and opened the book. Dappled sunlight and shadows played across his body. He could have been Michelangelo’s David dressed in denim and leather.

The rider looked up from his reading  as our eyes met for an instant. His gaze was pure and timeless. Walt Whitman would have loved to see this young pilgrim worshiping at his gate. In life Whitman would have marveled at the soulfull and graceful beauty of this young man.  Glancing down at the title of the book in his lap,  it was Leaves of Grass how expected, yet unexpected.

LindaLee 2007